Small satellites for Latin America

This paper presents a summary report and the major results of a Workshop on Small Satellites for Latin America, held at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in São José dos Campos, Brazil, at the initiative of the Sub-Committee on Small Satellites for Developing Nations of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).     

Multistage partially adaptive STAP CFAR detection algorithm

A new method of partially adaptive constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) detection is introduced. The processor implements a novel sequence of orthogonal subspace projections to decompose the Wiener solution in terms of the cross-correlation observed at each stage. The performance is evaluated using the general framework of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for the cases of both known and unknown covariance. It is demonstrated that this new approach to partially adaptive STAP outperforms the more complex eigen-analysis approaches using both simulated DARPA Mountain Top data and true pulse-Doppler radar data collected by the MCARM radar     

Position Finding with Empirical Prior Knowledge

Information on the position of a source of radiation is often obtained from bearing observations made from two or more known locations. Some criticisms of existing procedures are enumerated and a new approach proposed. This approach allows for the incorporation of knowledge existing before the observations are made and provides simple computational procedures for obtaining both the a posteriori density function of the source position and an estimate of this position from the observed data.     

Emitter Location Independent of Systematic Errors in Direction Finders

A scheme is suggested for the passive location of radio emitter position by using a mobile direction finder. The vehicle carrying the direction finder is made to maneuver such that the apparent direction of arrival is held constant. The resulting trajectory of the vehicle is a logarithmic spiral. The true direction of arrival can be obtained by monitoring the parameters of the spiral trajectory without using the value of the direction fimder reading. Two specific algorithms to eliminate direction finder bias are presented and their sensitivity to random errors in measurement assessed.